Treadmills are a well-known class of exercising machines that are typically difficult to store because of their awkward shape and size. In general, treadmills include a track bed and a support structure with handle bars. Most treadmills also include a console. Various designs for folding and collapsing treadmills have been or are in present use. Many of these designs are for treadmills with a non-powered tread or track. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 931,394 was an early design of a non-powered track foldable treadmill, which discloses a track bed hinged at its forward end to support legs. The simplicity of this design is not easily translatable to a heavier modern treadmill.
One problem with folding a modern treadmill is that the track bed is generally heavier because of various features, including a motor and drive mechanism. The heavy track bed is difficult to manually lift to the upright position and may cause back strain or other injury. It would be desirable to have a track bed that would raise and lower itself.
Many treadmills have motor driven incline adjustments. Such adjustments are attached to the bottom of the track bed. The adjustments typically have wheels connected to a lever assembly. The wheels rest on the ground or floor. The wheels and lever assembly are driven forward or backward by the motor to adjust the level of incline. For treadmills with an incline adjustment on the front end, the entire treadmill front end is lifted or lowered. Thus, the adjustment must lift any upright supports and handles.
There are several problems with such motor driven incline adjustments. The adjustments add weight to the track bed and make the track bed more difficult to fold. Often, the incline adjustment obstructs the movement of the track bed making it more difficult or impossible to fold. Further, the weight of the incline adjustment on the track bed and the supports attached to the track bed add to the weight lifted or lowered to adjust the incline. It would be desirable to have a foldable treadmill with an incline adjustment. A treadmill with an incline adjustment that does not add weight to the track bed is also desirable. Further, a treadmill with better structural support is desirable.